Communicable Period: From 1 Different Sources
The time or times during which the infectious agent may be transferred directly or indirectlyfrom an infected person to another person, from an infected animal to human, or from an infected human to an animal, including arthropods. In diseases such as diphtheria and scarlet fever, in which mucous membranes are involved from the first entry of the pathogen, the period of communicability is from the date of first exposure to a source of infection until the infective microorganism is no longer disseminated from the involved mucous membranes, ie, from the period before the prodromata until termination of a carrier stage, if this develops. Most diseases are not communicable during the earlyincubation period or after full recovery. In diseases transmitted by arthropods, such as malaria and yellow fever, the periods of communicability are those during which the infectious agent occurs in infective form in the blood or other tissues of the infected person in sufficient numbers to permit vector infections. A period of communicability is also to be distinguished for the arthropod vector - namely, that time during which the agent is present in the tissues of the arthropod in such form and locus (infective stage) as to be transmissible.
An illness due to a specific infectious agent or its toxic products which arises through transmission of that agent or its products from a reservoir to a susceptible host - either directly, through the agencyof an intermediate plant or animal host, vector, or the inanimate environment.... communicable disease
The time interval between exposure to an infectious agent (eg, bite) and appearance of the first sign or symptom of the disease in question.... incubation period
That period during the menstrual cycle (see MENSTRUATION) when fertilisation of the OVUM is unlikely to occur. OVULATION usually occurs about 15 days before the onset of the menstrual period. A woman is commonly believed to be fertile for about 11 days in each menstrual cycle – in other words, on the day of ovulation and for ?ve days before and ?ve days after this; this would be the eighth to the 18th day of the usual 28-day menstrual cycle. Outside this fertile period is the SAFE PERIOD: the ?rst week and the last ten days of the menstrual cycle. On the other hand, there is increasing evidence that the safest period is the last few days before menstruation. In the case of irregular menstruation it is not possible to calculate the safe period. In any event, the safety is not absolute. (See also CONTRACEPTION.)... safe period
The time between initiation of infection and the first shedding of the agent.... latent period
Recurrence at regular intervals of symptoms in malaria, characterised clinically by paroxysms and resulting from the invasion of the blood by new generations of parasites. Periodicity may be quotidian, tertian, quartan or double quartan according to the intervals between paroxysms.... periodicity
An adjective that relates to the tissues around the TEETH.... periodontal
See TEETH.... periodontal membrane
see PYORRHEA... periodontitis
An inherited condition causing recurrent bouts of fever. (See familial Mediterranean fever.)... periodic fever
Any disorder of the periodontium (the tissues that surround and support the teeth).... periodontal disease
The control of disease caused by infectious agents or their toxic products. Successes in the 19th and 20th centuries in the treatment and control of communicable diseases such as SMALLPOX, CHOLERA, TUBERCULOSIS, gastrointestinal infections, POLIOMYELITIS and SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES (STDS) resulted in an erroneous conception that they no longer posed a serious threat to public health, and certainly not in developed countries. As a consequence, the maintenance of e?ective public health strategies steadily lost out in the competition for resources to the more ‘glamorous’ developments in medicine, such as improved CANCER treatments, HEART surgery, kidney DIALYSIS and organ TRANSPLANTATION. However, in recent decades the dangers of this approach have become increasingly apparent. Rapidly expanding urban populations, more complex lifestyles, new and resurgent infections (some linked to a spread of antibiotic resistance) such as AIDS/HIV and variant CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE (CJD), and the ease with which infection can be spread by the enormous growth of long-distance travel and population migrations are severely straining existing public health measures. The supply of clean water, e?ective waste- and sewage-disposal measures, the hygienic production and delivery of food and early detection and subsequent prevention of infectious diseases can no longer be taken for granted. Governments will need to strengthen the provision of workable, properly resourced public health facilities, and developing countries will need ?nancial support and expert help from developed nations to achieve this objective. Timely recognition of new and resurgent infectious diseases requires national and international early-warning mechanisms to ensure rapid investigation and implementation of e?ective control measures. Otherwise, serious breakdowns in public health will occur, and international co-operation is vital to provide and support control measures. (See also COMMUNICABLE DISEASE; NOTIFIABLE DISEASES.)... communicable diseases control
A period past the due date of an insurance premium, during which coverage may not be cancelled.... grace period
See MENSTRUATION.... period
Time of infection (bite) to the first finding of the organism (eg, malaria parasite) in the bloodstrea m, i.e. from the time of infection to time when first diagnostic stages can be detected.... prepatent period
Premonitory period; indicating the approach of a disease.... prodromal period
A rare, inherited condition that affects young people. Periodic paralysis is characterized by episodes of muscle weakness, which vary in frequency from daily to every few years and last from a few minutes to a few hours. In some cases, there is a drop in the potassium levels in the blood; in others, the levels rise. A carbohydraterich meal may trigger an attack. The condition often clears up without treatment by age 40.... paralysis, periodic
See menstruation.... period, menstrual
The branch of dentistry concerned with periodontal disease.... periodontics
See dysmenorrhoea.... period pain
the control of disease due to infectious agents or their toxic products. See Consultant in Health Protection.... communicable disease control
a well-recognized period just after the diagnosis of type 1 *diabetes mellitus when only very low insulin doses are required to control the condition. It lasts from months to a few years but inevitably ends, when dose requirements will increase quite quickly.... diabetic honeymoon period
a group of rare inherited disorders characterized by recurrent attacks of fever and inflammation in the absence of infection. They include familial Mediterranean fever (see polyserositis), tumour necrosis factor receptor-associated periodic syndrome (TRAPS), and the cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS). Causative gene mutations have been identified.... hereditary periodic fever syndromes
the recognized period, either just before or just after a full *cardiac arrest, when the patient’s condition is very unstable and care must be taken to prevent progression or regression into a full cardiac arrest.... peri-arrest period
(PAS reaction) a test for the presence of glycoproteins, polysaccharides, certain mucopolysaccharides, glycolipids, and certain fatty acids in tissue sections. The tissue is treated with periodic acid, followed by *Schiff’s reagent. A positive reaction is the development of a red or magenta coloration.... periodic acid–schiff reaction
a localized abscess that arises in the periodontal tissues and is usually an acute manifestation of periodontal disease. It appears as a pocket of pus in the tissues of the gum but not around the apex of the tooth.... periodontal abscess
a space between the gingival tissues and tooth occurring in periodontitis. See periodontal disease.... periodontal pocket
n. the tissues that support and attach the teeth to the jaw: the gums (see gingiva), *periodontal membrane, alveolar bone, and *cementum.... periodontium
n. the branch of dentistry concerned with the tissues that support and attach the teeth and the prevention and treatment of *periodontal disease.... periodontology
(in neurology) the time of recovery needed for a nerve cell that has just transmitted a nerve impulse or for a muscle fibre that has just contracted. During the refractory period a normal stimulus will not bring about excitation of the cell, which is undergoing *repolarization.... refractory period
a condition in which attacks of sudden weakness and flaccidity occur in patients with *thyrotoxicosis, seen most often in males of Asian descent. The attacks last from hours to days; they can be prevented by potassium supplements and subsequent treatment of the thyrotoxicosis.... thyrotoxic periodic paralysis
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